"I never force myself to compose. If I don't feel like it, I don't."

"I beg you most humbly to go on loving me just a little and to make do with these poor congratulations until I get some new drawers made for my small and narrow brainbox in which I can keep the brains …"

"What's even worse than a flute? - Two flutes!"

"All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will r…"

"I laugh at the world, for it does not understand me."